Halo

The New Orleans Pelicans continue to drift toward the middle of the pack.

When you reside on the bottom, that sort of movement can be considered a positive, but when you're losing roster flexibility in the process, that's not always the best trend.

The Pelicans haven't made the worst moves this offseason, but those from the previous summers have set up the team for potential struggles down the line.

The Jrue Holiday deal lost the Pelicans possible youth and flexibility. The Tyreke Evans contract cost them cap space and the hopes of making future moves. Now, the Pels are over the cap and pretty much locked into today's roster.

When you have Anthony Davis, your future is always going to look bright. After all, is there a greater inevitability in basketball than Davis becoming one of the NBA's top five players (and probably better than that)?

Pairing him with seven-footer Omer Asik, meanwhile, gives Davis a fellow rim protector, someone who could play defense next to him for the prolonged future—as long as the Pelicans are willing to re-sign Asik when his contract runs out at the end of the year.

But still, the Pels are relatively committed to this roster, one that may not be good enough even to make the postseason in the Western Conference.

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